Good evening, son, and happy birthday!
Honestly, I’ve already told you several times today.
At 2 AM when I came to see you sleeping.
At 4 AM when you woke up.
But there’s never too many times to tell you.
I am deeply happy to have you with us.
And especially to see you growing and developing as you are today.
Nothing is perfect, but we are incredibly lucky to have you by our side.
And I have enormous gratitude for that.
Everything could have been much worse.
Every night, when I take over from your mom at 2 AM, I tell myself we need to make the most of every moment with you.
Because life has already shown us how quickly everything can change.
And these past few days, something has changed.
We’re managing to spend days without oxygen. Sometimes even nights.
The ‘normal’ life we hoped for by 2026 is slowly starting to take shape.
We’re staying home to protect you from viruses, but you, you’re breathing better.
And that’s all that matters.
It’s the best gift you could have given us.
For your 1st birthday, we did something different.
We couldn’t invite people to the house, so we organized your birthday online.
There were the four of us here, with Fabi, your nanny.
And behind the screens, there were all those people who have been following you for months.
Nearly 200 guests. About fifty connected at the same time.
Our friends from Mauritius and Australia were missing. The time difference was too complicated.
But we thought of them.
We had chosen The Little Prince theme.
Because you are a bit like that too.
A little being from elsewhere. Seemingly fragile, but with immense strength and light.
We had planned a lot of things… and in the end, we kept it simple.
A little music, your entrance to a Queen song,
the happy birthday song, the candle, the cake, the thank yous.
We adapted.
And it was perfectly fine that way.
We thanked everyone.
For their presence.
For their messages.
For their prayers.
For their energy.
Because this year, we needed it.
And we asked them for only one thing. To continue.
To continue sending strength.
To continue believing with us that one day, all this will be behind us.
Dad even got out the turntables…
We weren’t sure how to manage all those people.
We wanted to do well, to please everyone… but it’s not that simple behind a screen.
It was a beautiful experience.
Tomorrow, you were supposed to have a lung scan.
Ultimately, it was canceled after the party due to an emergency.
It’s postponed until Thursday.
So we wait.
We see that things are getting better.
But now, we need to know.
We need answers.
Can we hope for even better?
Deep down, we still believe.
We’re doing everything we can!
Regarding food, it’s still complicated.
You’ve gained a little weight, you’re back above 8 kilos.
But every meal remains a struggle.
Your nanny is the only one who can get you to eat 100%, but not without difficulty, and by forcing you a bit too.
This morning, I tried for an hour. It was impossible.
We’re talking about doing a gastroscopy to check if there’s esophagitis.
It was planned for this week. We were supposed to go back to Fortaleza.
But we preferred to wait.
Too many risks.
Too much fear of viruses.
And the flu vaccines we got last week aren’t fully effective for you yet.
We’ll do it later.
That’s the news.
Today, we laughed.
We shared.
We celebrated.
Your 1st birthday!
I am proud of you.
Your strength amazes and inspires me.
I love you, my son.
See you soon for the rest of our adventures.
And long live you ❤️
You deserve it!
Dad
